Chapter 29

Early in the morning, Jiziquan got up early, and Jiwulanxin personally helped her son tidy up his clothes, not forgetting to remind him: "This time, sending you to be a servant student is a bit of a hardship for you, but it's hard to enter the Immortal Sect, and there's no other way besides this. When you see your cousin Tianchong, remember not to argue with him and to get along well with him."

"Mom, you've said this more than twenty times," Jiziquan replied proudly. "Don't worry, I'll handle it well."

As the young master of the Ji family, Jiziquan indeed had reasons to be proud. Last year, he had a Spirit Master open his Jade Gate, and with four rotations, he was considered to have medium-level talent. Most importantly, opening the Jade Gate required perseverance and resilience, and Jiziquan had achieved this, making him rare among the young masters, which he could be proud of.

Moreover, he was also good at socializing, knew the books and manners, and was far superior to Weitianchong. Therefore, in his view, dealing with Weitianchong was a trivial matter.

Under normal circumstances, it indeed wouldn't be difficult.

After tidying up his clothes, the two officially set out, asking a servant to lead them to the Tranquil Heart Garden. The Qingyang Pavilion was far from the Tranquil Heart Garden, so they had to pass through many places. Jiziquan hadn't been there for a long time, and occasionally walking through the Wei residence, he was surprised by its grandeur. The servant was a shrewd person and took the initiative to introduce the various households along the way, explaining the situation of the Wei residence to Jiziquan. As a newcomer, Jiziquan naturally valued this information and was quite grateful to the servant.

However, this slowed them down, and they kept encountering various people along the way, including servants, maids, and even managers, all of whom were very polite, greeting them warmly, which further slowed their progress.

After walking for a while, they arrived at the Yinnian Residence where the old master lived. They saw the old master practicing boxing in the courtyard. Since they had seen him, Jiziquan couldn't help but go up to greet him.

The old master, seeing his grandson, warmly inquired about his well-being and only let them go after a while.

However, by the time they reached the Tranquil Heart Garden, it was already half an hour later. Upon arriving, they were told that Weitianchong was in class and it was not appropriate to disturb him.

Jiwulanxin was very dissatisfied: "Didn't we send someone to say we would come to see the young master today and that Tianchong doesn't need to go to school?"

She was Weitianchong's aunt and didn't need to be too polite to him in her words.

Shi Meng replied with a forced smile: "The young master did wait, for about half an hour. When he couldn't wait any longer, he thought you two weren't coming and went to class."

He didn't mention that Weitianchong had been anxious, even breaking a chair, and Jiwulanxin and Jiziquan didn't notice the issue.

Since they were late, they couldn't blame Weitianchong.

Fortunately, Shi Mo said: "Since you two are here, you should at least greet the young master. Why don't I take you to the academy to see him?"

Thinking it over, Jiziquan politely replied: "Since that's the case, I'll trouble you, young sir."

Although he came from a noble family, he knew he was here for a purpose, so he was also polite to the servants. However, he was still unwilling to bribe or flatter like Tang Jie.

"Please follow me," Shi Meng led Jiwulanxin and Jiziquan to the academy.

Upon arriving at the academy, they saw a teacher teaching, with about ten students from the Wei family sitting below, but they didn't know which one was Weitianchong.

Shi Meng pointed to Weitianchong and said: "That's the young master. Since it's class time, it's not appropriate to disturb him. Just greet him from here."

He then coughed to get the attention of the room.

On the other side, Shi Mo heard and looked up, seeing the three people outside. Knowing it was Jiziquan, he nudged Weitianchong and nodded towards the outside.

Weitianchong looked up and met Jiziquan's eyes.

However, Shi Mo's action was too obvious and was seen by the teacher, who grabbed his ruler and hit Weitianchong: "Focus on your studies, no looking around!"

The ruler hit Weitianchong's head, causing him to shrink back in pain, not daring to look again.

In ancient times, teaching was not about happy learning or avoiding corporal punishment.

The position of a teacher was one with the authority to discipline young masters, and the Wei family's teacher was a renowned scholar in the Canglong Prefecture, with high prestige and having taught several famous figures.

Even if you were a young master of the Wei family, or from the Jin, Zhang, or Gu families, or even an Immortal family, if you didn't listen well, you would still be punished.

Therefore, even Weitianchong didn't dare to resist, but he hated Jiziquan with a vengeance.

After Weitianchong's outburst yesterday, he had thought it was his cousin and didn't need to make a big deal out of it, so he had already decided to back down. Now, being repeatedly wronged, his impression of Jiziquan had become thoroughly bad.

Jiziquan was unaware of this poor first impression. In his view, being scolded by the teacher for not paying attention in class was common, so he just smiled: "It seems we came at the wrong time. Since that's the case, let's go back to the Tranquil Heart Garden and wait. By the way, Shi Meng, when does the teacher usually finish?"

"That's hard to say," Shi Meng replied with a difficult expression. "The teacher doesn't have a fixed schedule. Sometimes it's long, sometimes it's short. When he's in the mood, he might teach until night."

"Is that so?" Jiziquan thought for a moment. "In that case, let's go back to the Qingyang Pavilion. If the young master finishes early, please come and inform us."

"Of course," Shi Meng replied with a smile.

Of course, Jiziquan wouldn't receive any notification.

After two days in the Wei residence, Jiziquan's only achievement was seeing Weitianchong from a distance, and even causing him to be hit.

——

On the third day in the residence.

That day, Jiziquan got up early, tidied up his clothes, and avoided another wasted trip. Jiwulanxin was about to accompany her son, but unexpectedly, Yan Zhi came to invite her to meet the lady.

Zheng Shufeng didn't know that Jiziquan hadn't spoken to her son the day before, assuming everyone had already met and gotten to know each other, so there was no need for Jiwulanxin to accompany him every time. Plus, Yan Zhi suggested it, so she called Jiwulanxin to accompany the old lady.

Jiwulanxin, hearing that Zheng Shufeng wanted her to accompany the old lady, wanted to say no but didn't know how to express it. Fortunately, Jiziquan said: "Mother, go and accompany the old lady. I'll go and see Tianchong myself."

Jiwulanxin was still a bit worried and said: "Since that's the case, let Cai Si accompany you."

Since this time Jiziquan couldn't bring servants, Jiwulanxin only brought her personal maid Ning Cui and a groom, Cai Si. So, Cai Si had to do the job.

This time, they were still led by the same servant from yesterday. Fortunately, nothing like yesterday happened, and they smoothly arrived at the Tranquil Heart Garden, where Weitianchong was in the garden admiring flowers.

Seeing Weitianchong, Jiziquan smiled and walked up: "Tianchong, it's been two years. How have you been?"

For Jiziquan, coming here as a servant student was just a last resort. He couldn't possibly see himself as a servant, which was his only weakness. However, this weakness was generally not something anyone would dare to exploit.

Therefore, he came today to try to reconnect with Weitianchong, focusing on their relationship rather than his role, which was similar to Tang Jie's initial attitude towards Xu Muyang, and was not inherently wrong.

Unfortunately, his intentions were already clear to Tang Jie, who had passed the information to Weitianchong through Shi Mo the day before. Combined with yesterday's events, Weitianchong had a very poor impression of him. So, when he saw Jiziquan, he just talked to Shi Mo and ignored him. Jiziquan, reaching out to greet Weitianchong, saw no response and awkwardly touched his own head, then withdrew his hand.

"… By the way, the wolf-hair brush in the study needs to be replaced, remember to…"

"It's already been replaced, young master. It's your favorite silver needle brush from the Ziyanzhai."

"You're a smart one," Weitianchong laughed, then turned to look at Jiziquan and said in a very normal tone: "Oh, isn't this Brother Ziquan? It's been a long time. What made you think of coming to see me today?"

Jiziquan laughed: "Doesn't Tianchong know? My mother came the day before yesterday and formally requested a place in the Wei residence. The Wei family has a place every year, and the Ji family and the Wei family are closely related. It's better to give it to family than to outsiders."

His words were normal, but unfortunately, they were inappropriate, as the "outsiders" were all there.

Not just Shi Mo and Shi Meng, but even other servants like Tang Jie, heard this and inwardly sneered.

Weitianchong didn't get angry, but said coldly: "No one notified me, so how would I know?"

Jiziquan was taken aback, sensing something was off.

The Ji family had been in the Wei residence for two days, and they had notified Weitianchong the day before. It was impossible for Weitianchong not to know. His words only indicated that he was unhappy about not seeing Jiziquan for the past two days.

However, this wasn't a big issue and could be explained. Jiziquan quickly said: "Oh, cousin, you misunderstood. We were staying at the Qingyang Pavilion, which is quite far, making it inconvenient to come and go. Plus, my mother was tired from the journey and needed to rest early, so we didn't come that day. Yesterday, we specifically came…"

He was better off not mentioning yesterday. As soon as he did, Weitianchong remembered the ruler and felt a lingering pain in his head, his face darkening: "